Now that I'm no longer 25...

A Scottish Christmas

2011-12-12T10:48:00.001Z

Welcome to my tour of our Scottish Christmas, it’s a lot more understated than the Christmases over on the USA but we like out little touches of decorations, they’re simple but they all mean something to us.

Although it’s a Scottish Christmas I have been baking cookies (and these really are cookies rather than biscuits) on my Martha Stewart cookie sheet which I bought when I was in Houston earlier this year, making me feel a little bit of the American Christmas spirit.

We also decorated our tree really early (by British standard anyway on the 5th of December this year) with lights and our favourite mix and match decorations.

I even made a tree skirt this year, it’s just basic red but hopefully I’ll add some embellishments for next year. However, we live with two wild animals, pictured below, when they finally got tired of attacking each other, once we had gone to bed, they removed every decoration from the tree and chewed up my tree fairy!

So we spent this weekend redecorating our tree and added some ribbon, there’s still some decorations to put on but I wasn’t sure it would survive the night. Thanks to almost a whole bottle of pet behaviour spray covering the tree they’ve kept away, although our tree smells of citronella rather than pine!

This year I also turned an Ikea plain wreath into a table centre piece with some Ikea candles, we’ve also been making a lot of potato scones recently.

The Christmas tree is our main Christmas decoration, so here are a few of the many ornaments handing, it’s rather an eclectic collection.

I’m looking forward to catching up with friends and family and to all the Christmas food and particularly baking.

What’s your favourite Christmas food?

[Linking up to the Christmas Tour of Homes at the Inspired Room, Thrifty Decor Chick and at Nesting Place]

Happiness Is… {Happy}

2011-12-02T16:24:00.001Z

…almost finishing my Christmas shopping

… seeing Christmas trees getting delivered, even if I’ve already picked my artificial one

…getting the Christmas decorations out of the garage, ready to go up this weekend

… and on a non Christmas theme, thinking about the almond croissants my Mum and I had in London

… this decoration in Harrods which made my Mum and I laugh, especially because it was more than £100! Although it still gives me the creeps when I see it!

What’s made you smile recently?

Ponder {Poetry}

2011-11-23T09:40:00.001Z

Oh, where have you gone?

November and a passing,

Are you near or far?

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Sorry for the absence, there’s been a lot going on here, I needed to spend some time with my family and sort a few things out. Lots of stories to tell you though, I hope you’re all well.

What have you been up to, what did you write about, what did I miss?

[Visit Jenn for more poetry]

Memories of Orkney X {Scotland}

2011-10-25T06:44:00.000+01:00

Tomb of the Eagles

This is probably my top rated visitor attraction in Orkney, it’s at least as good as the Italian Chapel and the Standing Stones of Strenness and definitely I preferred it to Skara Brae.

Step 1: Arrive at a farm in the middle of nowhere and pay a small entry fee

Step 2: March across the farmers field to near the tomb – braving the wind from the sea until you eventually find what looks like a small hill right on the coast

Step 3: Lie on a skateboard and pull yourself into the tomb using a rope

Step 4: Try to get off the skateboard without rolling all around the tomb, be sure to laugh at everyone else on the skateboard and take plenty of photos and videos

Step 5: Actually look at the tomb but try not to think about the fact that you just pulled yourself into a tomb on your stomach. When the farmer first dug a hole into this tomb and lit it with his lighter he was met by 50 skulls! they’re now arranged behind glass with light switches you can pull to view some of them.

There are also plenty of torches provided so you can have a look around the Tomb, some of the items found here are on display at the visitor centre at the farm. The tomb is believed to be from 3000BC and used for about 800years. 70 talons from the White Tailed sea eagle were found at the tomb, which were believed to once be common in Orkney.

Step 6: Get out of there the same way you came in and appreciate the daylight and sea views you’re pulling yourself towards

Step 7: Stop by the bronze age site on the way back to the visitor centre

I liked this site because it was a small family business with a nice story and it’s quite a fun place to visit. There’s also lots of information at the visitor centre including items found during the dig here.

Would you ride the skateboard into the tomb?

Memories of Orkney IX {Scotland}

2011-10-11T06:08:00.000+01:00

Scara Brae

One of the main tourist sites on Orkney is Skara Brae, it’s operated by Historic Scotland, the best part of it for me was the beach that runs alongside it. A mix of beautiful sand and huge rounded sea rocks.

The site itself is pretty expensive and it’s not very hands on, it’s very typical of a National Trust Property. I do appreciate the need to preserve this site though and with a little imagination it’s a really interesting place to visit. the sand and stormy weather could easily cause damage to the site, along with the many visitors traipsing through each year.

The site lay hidden underneath the sand and grass until a big storm in 1850 revealed the outline of building. This was discovered to be from Neolithic times thanks to radiocarbon dating which suggests 3180BC to 2500BC. (As the Wikipedia article points out, this is older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids)

The years buried in the sand have resulted in a very well preserved site and a number or details can be seen. The photo below shows one of the fireplaces in the settlement.

The various rooms are connected by small passageways which are very well preserved and could even be closed using a slab door. There’s evidence of a drainage system and a basic toilet in each dwelling.

This is a site we felt we had to visit while in Orkney, although I think we were spoilt by a lot of the other sites we visited before arriving at this site. It’s a really interesting excavation and a real insight into life thousands of years ago.

A City needs Sports Facilities {31 Days to the Perfect City}

2011-10-10T17:25:00.000+01:00

After your Sunday picnic full of goodies and a general weekend of over indulging it’s time to get out in the perfect city and use up some calories or at least have some fun.

One of the most striking things I remember about Barcelona is the communal sports facilities and games that were available.

Free use gym equipment on the beach:

Or some boules, not just for the older generation:

Or meeting your friends for some table tennis on a hazy summer morning before work?

What does your town or city have on offer?

[This is part of the 31 days series to build s perfect city, for more information read the intro post, to read all the series posts see the Perfect City Label.]

A City needs a Picnic Location {31 Days to the Perfect City}

2011-10-09T17:09:00.000+01:00

It’s Sunday in the perfect city, it’s summer so the weather’s nice, you’ve got your Sunday papers, now all you need is somewhere to take a coffee and a croissant.

Whether it’s a park with a view of a castle like Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh.

Or even a bridge in Paris.

Where would you have a picnic?

A City needs a Market {31 Days to the Perfect City}

2011-10-08T11:33:00.000+01:00

It’s Saturday morning after your coffee your head out in search of something for lunch, in the perfect city this would be a market.

Barcelona has a whole section of different markets from fruit and veg to fresh fish,

But the produce we saw in France recently was so colourful and the atmosphere was bustling and friendly.

Having the ability to easily buy fresh fruit, veg, meat and fish would be an important part of my perfect city.

[This is part of the 31 days series to build s perfect city, for more information read the intro post, to read all the series posts see the Perfect City Label.]

Week 1 in the Perfect City {31 Days and Happiness Is…}

2011-10-07T10:30:00.000+01:00

{Welcome to the 7th instalment of 31 Days to the Perfect City and also to the weekly Happiness Is… link up. Through the month of October I’m building the perfect imaginary city and every Friday I post a few things which made me happy over the week – link up at the end of this post}

Happiness Is… a week in the perfect city! So far…

We have seasonal weather, beautiful spring greens, summer with turquoise water at the beach, autumn in the mountains and of course snow in the winter.

Some historic architecture including lots of sandstone and a little colour.

Contrasted with modern architecture glass, mirrors, steel and concrete as well as bright lights.

Some water to bring a little nature to our architecture, from rivers, to fountains, to beaches.

And I covered the streets with cobbles and paving slabs covered in poetry or quotes.

Finally I demanded somewhere to hang out my washing/laundry, I couldn’t live without that even in the perfect city.

So far it’s looking colourful but there’s still a lot of things to add.

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And, What’s happiness for you?

Before linking up here are the guidelines:

1. Use any format as long as it centres around what happiness is for you this week

2. Link to your blog post not your blog homepage

3. Link back to this site or this post, or use the button in the sidebar

4. If you don’t have a blog please join in, in the comments

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A City needs Washing {31 Days to the Perfect City}

2011-10-06T17:19:00.000+01:00

I seem to have a strange fascination of taking photos of people’s clean washing, there’s something colourful and interesting about the way washing is dried – or is it just me?!

In Aberdeen we have whirleys for the many windy washing days we get.

In France they hand out their towels from the balcony of their colourful apartments in the sea air after an afternoon dip.

In Italy they hang their washing between the buildings.

And in Uganda the washing dries quickly in the hot dry air.

My perfect city would allow people to hang out their washing in the fresh air.

Do you hang your washing outside?

[This is part of the 31 days series to build s perfect city, for more information read the intro post, to read all the series posts see the Perfect City Label.]

A City needs Cobbled Streets {31 Days to the Perfect City}

2011-10-05T13:22:00.000+01:00

Perhaps not the best thing when you’re on your way home from a night out in your best heels and sometimes rather slippery in the rain but there’s no denying that some cobbled streets give cities charm.

Perhaps it’s a condition from living in Edinburgh for several years, with it’s many cobbled streets.

Similarly London has plenty of example, cobbles at Covent Garden and at Blackfriars's church.

Although I’d settle for the engraved slabs along the Thames with poetry as an alternative.

The cobbled streets in Naples help add to the rustic charm of the city, that concrete couldn’t quite manage.

My final favourite cobbled street is probably not a good idea in a city which is seasonal, I’m not sure how easy it would be to walk down this path in Capri, Italy in the snow, still it is very pretty.

Would you perfect city have cobbled streets or would you choose something with more grip?

[This is part of the 31 days series to build s perfect city, for more information read the intro post, to read all the series posts see the Perfect City Label.]

A City needs Water {31 Days to the Perfect City}

2011-10-04T11:30:00.000+01:00

So far we’ve got seasons, ancient and modern architecture in our city, from this I want to build in some water.

We all need water to survive, I’m going to presume my city has a plentiful supply of clean, fresh water. So many places in the world are not fortunate enough to have this but in my perfect city we are lucky. The seasonal weather means we gather enough to use in displays through the city.

I find water very calming and often photograph it when I’m travelling, I don’t mind how water is involved, fountain, sculptures, a beach, a lake or a river. Some of my favourite examples from around the world are:

The water running between the train lines giving Houston’s Skyscraper Alley something a little more natural (Texas, USA).

San Antonio’s River Walk at Night (Texas, USA)

Aranzano Beach on the edge of the town, again this is particularly lovely in the evening.

A canal to walk along like London’s.

And plenty of fountains, similar to the squares of Nice, France.

Would water be involved in your perfect city?

A City needs Modern Architecture {31 Days to the Perfect City}

2011-10-03T11:30:00.000+01:00

This is part of the 31 days series to build s perfect city, for more information read the intro post, to read all the series posts see the Perfect City Label.

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Yesterday I looked at the need for historic building which are a common factor in all my favourite cities, modern architecture also has its place in my perfect city. I’d like to take inspiration from the following locations:

The Auditorio de Tenerife, completed in 2003, a vast concrete auditorium, the symbol of a city.

The lit up building on Orchard Road, Singapore, this includes a small shopping centre and offices. The colour changes every couple of minutes.

The Singapore Visitor Centre, also on Orchard Road, why shouldn’t a visitor centre have a huge lit up sign that becomes part of the design, numerous times I’ve struggles to find the tourist information in a city – not in Singapore.

Pompidou Centre in Paris, because why not build something inside out. The George R Brown Conference Centre in Houston always reminds me of the Pompidou Centre.

Grande Arche de la Défense, Paris – designed to be a 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe, it is a monument to humanity and humanitarian ideals, the almost cube structure is over 100m in each direction and was completed in 1986.

Denver Art Museum and a similar style but more rounded in the Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA.

Finally I’d have some skyscrapers, Houston style, with plenty of glass and mirrors.

Which modern building would you have in your perfect city?

{Visit the other bloggers taking on the 31 day challenge – details at Sandy’s and Nester’s}

A City needs Historic Architecture {31 Days to the Perfect City}

2011-10-02T11:30:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my 31 days series to build s perfect city, for more information read the intro post, to read all the series posts see the Perfect City Label.

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Ancient building add grandeur to a city, the also remind us of the cities history and all the people that have used the building. In my perfect city I’d like to include…

London’s Natural History Museum, completed in 1880 is a memorable building.

Dated 1748, the Bishop’s Palace in Murcia, Spain, brings an historic elegance to an already beautiful cathedral square.

I’d have my shops in building as beautiful and interesting as the Urban Outfitters in Glasgow which is in the old Stock Exchange, completed in 1877.

I’d like a whole load of Paris’ buildings to be honest, it’s a city of class and beauty, including Notre Dame.

Which historic building would you have in your perfect city?

{Visit the other bloggers taking on the 31 day challenge – details at Sandy’s and Nester’s}

Where is the Perfect City? {31 Days to the Perfect City}

2011-10-01T00:01:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my 31 days series to build s perfect city, for more information read the intro post, to read all the series posts see the Perfect City Label

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So where is the perfect city?

Paris – with all it’s cafes and romantic atmosphere?

London – multi-cultural and historic?

LA – with it’s beaches and film industry?

Rome – Italian food and Roman Ruins?

Is it in the northern hemisphere or the southern? Near the equator? Which continent is it on?

A lot of factors go into our opinions of cities, past experiences of the city, age, family dynamics, what we’re used to, stories we hear, where our interest and passions lie, our own culture.

Basically the perfect city is entirely a personal opinion, over the next 31 days I’m going to run through some of my opinions on what would be the perfect city for me. I’d love to hear your opinions, whether you agree or disagree with my list and what makes the perfect city for you.

The location of some of my favourite cities are spread over various locations:

View World Cities in a larger map

But for my perfect city I’m going to insist on seasons

Somewhere with a spring as green as Edinburgh

A summer as warm as Nice, France

An Autumn as colourful as Colorado, USA

A winter as snowy as Glasgow, Scotland

What’s your favourite city location? Do you love seasons or prefer one season all year?

{Visit the other bloggers taking on the 31 day challenge – details at Sandy’s and Nester’s}

31 Days to the Perfect City

2011-09-28T07:02:00.000+01:00

What makes a city perfect for you?

I’m a huge fan of cities even though I grew up in a small town, visiting cities seems to be a common past-time for me over the past few year. I’m joining in with some fabulous blogging ladies and doing a 31 day series in October to highlight what would make my perfect city.

Jen - 31 Days to Balancing Both Beauty and a Budget

Jessica – 31 Days of Memory Keeping

Melissa: – 31 Days: Inspired Holidays

Sandy – 31 Days of Warm Connections

Darcy: 31 Days of Photo Tips

Emily: 31 Days to Change the World

Emily: 31 Days of the Little Things

Nester – 31 Days of Charming Imperfection

I hope you’ll join me as I build me perfect city in October.

What’s your favourite city?

Memories of Orkney VIII {Scotland}

2011-09-27T06:08:00.000+01:00

A Scottish Summer – the Ring of Brodgar

One of Orkney’s most well known sites, the Ring of Brodgar, is a stone circle and henge much larger than the standing stones at Stenness.

They are thought to have been constructed somewhere between 2500BC and 2000BC, the stone circle is almost 105m in diameter, contains 60 stones, only 27 of them remain standing.

Some of the stones have fallen over, some only a small part remain. Although the ring is a lot larger than the stones at Stenness, the stones themselves are smaller and vary in height from about 2 to 5 meters.

A couple of the stones have been hit by lightning strikes and either split or toppled over.

Nearby we stopped for a picnic and a spot of Scottish sunbathing - jeans, scarves and waterproof jackets.

There’s a great wee ice cream parlour near hear called Gerry’s where you can get a great ice cream sundae and cup of tea. They serve Orkney’s famous ice cream in sundaes or in ‘monster cones’ which, if you can finish one yourself, will earn you a place on the list of honour! We opted for the sundae instead of the monster cone!

Are you an ice cream fan?

Arenzano, Italian Peace and Quiet {Travel}

2011-09-15T06:36:00.000+01:00

We headed out of Genova and back along the coast, the long weekend in the area made it a bit tricky to find a reasonably priced hotel in town so we drove to Arenzano, a place not even mentioned in our guide book. It turned out to be one of our favourite stays and arguably the location of the best restaurant we discovered.

Once we arrived at the Hotel Poggio, where the staff were wonderful, we headed into town to the Restaurant Sole on their recommendation. Handwritten menus and fresh seafood made for a good first evening.

Arenzano at night is lit by lantern style street lights along it’s narrow alleys and streets. It’s perfect for an after dinner wander at this time of year.

The hotel is a little inland from the front but we had a good view of the town from our balcony.

As with most of the area, a lot of the seafront is taken up by private beach, the beaches are naturally stony hear and you can pay to enter the area where the sunbeds are.

The fresh produce in this part of the world is fabulous, we tried the peaches and giant papayas here as well as plenty of seafood in the restaurants.

There’s a great atmosphere in the town and I loved listening to all the chatter between the shopkeepers and the passers by. The shops seem to spill out into the narrow alleyways and passages through the old town.

The view out to sea at night is lovely and it’s always busy walking along the front at this time of year. It just goes to show that you can’t always rely on the guidebooks even if I do have a Lonely Planet obsession, obviously they can’t visit everywhere.

Autumn’s Here

2011-09-14T06:00:00.000+01:00

Autumn’s here, rain falls

Wind is roaring, scarves and boots

Winter follows soon

Occasional blue

Light shines through the faded leaves

Colours of autumn

[More poetry at Jenn’s]

Memories of Orkney VII {Scotland}

2011-09-13T06:03:00.000+01:00

Bay of Birsay

After our adventures on Hoy and at Stromness we headed further north on the mainland part of Orkney to Birsay – the furthest North we’ve ever ventured (so far anyway).

We reached the bay just as the sun was setting and wandered around between the stone dykes and rockpools as it got darker.

The sky changed so much as we sat on the rocks watching the last of the light disappear in the late spring evening.

Then we headed to the pub for a late dinner and a pint of local ale, reminded of the beauty of the country in which we were lucky enough to be born in.

When did you last watch the sun set?

Happiness Is… {Happy}

2011-09-09T06:00:00.000+01:00

[Welcome to the weekly Happiness Is… link up, see the Happiness Is.. page for more information]

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Happiness Is… flowers in the garden on a hazy morning, rediscovering Battenberg cake, late night tea stops in Glasgow and road trips with bridges and blue skies.

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What’s happiness for you?

Before linking up here are the guidelines:

1. Use any format as long as it centres around what happiness is for you this week

2. Link to your blog post not your blog homepage

3. Link back to this site or this post, or use the button below

4. If you don’t have a blog please join in, in the comments

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Findhorn for Tea

2011-09-06T07:00:00.000+01:00

Last March we embarked on a Saturday road trip in search of a tea shop. We ended up getting some stunning views of the Scottish coast and we also found our tea shop so it was a successful day out!

Days like this remind me how beautiful Scotland can be.

Happiness Is… {Happy}

2011-09-02T06:00:00.000+01:00

[Welcome to the weekly Happiness Is… link up, see the Happiness Is.. page for more information]

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September's arrival has me thinking about Autumn

The changing landscape around me, darker nights, redder trees, yellower fields

Time for nesting and sorting, staying in where it’s warm.

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What’s happiness for you?

Before linking up here are the guidelines:

1. Use any format as long as it centres around what happiness is for you this week

2. Link to your blog post not your blog homepage

3. Link back to this site or this post, or use the button below

4. If you don’t have a blog please join in, in the comments

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Ventimiglia and Genova {Travel}

2011-09-01T06:17:00.000+01:00

We drove from Menton in France over the Italian border and toward Ventimiglia, a town which is so small and not particularly well known but will always remain in my memory from the long trip home from Capri.

When we reached Ventimiglia the traffic was proper, crazy Italian traffic, people squeezing through spaces and beeping their horns all getting to where they are going somehow. It’s great fun as long as you’re not driving a really long estate car full of people and luggage on the opposite side of the road to usual. Thankfully I was a passenger so was able to soak up the atmosphere and snap a few photos out of the window.

First stop in Italy was Ice Cream followed by a wander around Genova harbour, in the sunshine.

There are a number of building in the areas of France and Italy we were in where the buildings were very plain but with intricate detail painted on, sometimes this was so good it was was tricky to tell if it was real or not until you were very close.

We also found a very touristy pirate boat at the harbour, complete tourist attraction but good fun too.

The most bizarre thing we saw was this sculpture which I’m not really sure about at all, it’s open to interpretation I think.

We didn’t get to see much of Genova this time but I was surprised at how big the city was, we headed back along the coast a little to escape the crazy long weekend prices in town to a lovely little Italian town, Arenzano.

Memories of Orkney VI {Scotland}

2011-08-30T06:50:00.000+01:00

Stromness

The first place we stayed on Orkney was Stromness, close to the Stones of Stenness and to the Ferry to Houton, it’s Orkney’s second largest town. The strom part of the town’s name refers to the strong currents in the seas by the town. It’s a nice coastal town with big paving slabbed streets and cute stone buildings.

There’s steep windy lanes of solid paving slabs which, I’m sure, have seen a fair many people slide throughout the years.

We stayed in a lovely B&B just outside Stromness with great views down to Stromness and out to sea. A lovely place to sit and eat breakfast.

It does have a colourful harbour which made up for the damp greyness that we had that morning.

Previously the town was called Hamnavoe, meaning ‘peaceful’ which it certainly is from this picture. I enjoy watching the comings and going of a harbour filled with colourful boats and their reflections on the water.

My father passed with his penny letters

Through closes opening and shutting like legends

When barbarous with gulls

Hamnavoes’s morning broke

On the salt and tar steps. herring boats,

Puffing red sails, the tillers

Of cold horizons, leaned

Down the gull-gaunt tide

{From Hamnavoe by local poet George Mackay Brown}